


Pocket Rhythm

by sleeplittlechild



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Dancing, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-09 05:16:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20848115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleeplittlechild/pseuds/sleeplittlechild
Summary: The Mighty Nein are sent out to find out what's worrying people in an outskirt town of the Dynasty. Fjord and Nott come up with a strange way of finding out.





	Pocket Rhythm

**Author's Note:**

> So....this is inspired by listening to music in my car, [this post](https://tulipsocks.tumblr.com/post/187034074042) and just ideas floating around in my head.
> 
> Thanks to Amaronith, tasareinspace, and A.K. for helping shape this (I don't know how to tag you~~~)
> 
> And when the music starts, head over to YouTube and [check out the song I used.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGwdpdlXMWA)
> 
> Now enjoy - I don't know how to write feelings~!

The thing about being favored by the Bright Queen is that you have to _show_ that you’re still grateful for it. And sometimes, that means going to a random podunk (Beau was surprised that Xhorhas even had podunk places) town and figuring out who was causing unrest during the last few weeks.

“Sure, send the grunts to do the political work.” Beau grumbles on the back of Jannik. “Makes sense.” Caleb elbows her before she can get loud enough for someone to hear.

The town is a farming community, populated mainly by dark elves with calloused hands working side by side bugbears and goblins. There are creatures there bigger than their moorbounders plowing the fields. They no doubt get looks as they enter town, but the day is still early and most people have their work to distract them from causing a scene.

They get one large room for themselves and begin asking questions. It doesn’t take long to suss out what’s going on. Thefts and robberies have been happening in rising frequency. Nothing too extravagant, nobody’s life savings have tanked completely. The thief seems to be focusing on sentimental trinkets. A farmer pulling up grain told Jester that his wife had lost her grandmother’s music box while they slept. The convenience store clerk told the story of how a wooden carving that he had made herself in a previous life was stolen during a late night at the shop to Caduceus. Even the owner, under a suspicious eye, confessed that some of their oldest wines had been spirited away. (Nott laughed at that joke; Caleb had not.)

“Well, the dude’s still here.” Beau concludes when they put everything together. She stretches back and rests her hands behind her head. “These thefts have been happening once a week, so he’s still here. Probably planning another heist right now.”

“Oh! You know what we should do!?” Jester jumped up from her seat. “Caleb! You know how you can turn stuff into gold?????”

It was a rhetorical question that Caleb still answered with “Ja.”

“What if we go downstairs and tell everyone that we have this really, really fancy thing and that we’re scared that this sneaky guy is gonna steal it - ”

“Or girl.” Nott added.

“Or girl. And, and we make something into gold, so he’ll want to steal it. And then when he does, then we can catch him!” Jester made a fist like she was grabbing onto the imaginary thief’s shirt. Caleb tried hard not to laugh - it looked like there was actual vengeance in her expression.

“That...that might work.” Beau puffed out her chest. “I like this plan.”

Fjord tapped his hand on Caleb’s chest. Caleb had just enough wind in him to not react. “Yeah, and you’ve got that thread...string...thing, right? You can surround it and that way, we’ll know exactly when the guy catches it.”

Caleb rubbed his hands together. “I mean, ja, I can do that. Let’s just lay all the plan out. We are baiting our mystery criminal with one of our supplies and when he takes it, we will catch him red-handed and...and then what?”

Caduceus shrugged. “Turn him over to the authorities, I presume. I don’t believe we actually have any authority on this one - we’re more of just the investigators.”

“Yeah. Let the cops handle it.” Beau’s face scrunched up. “Are there cops here?”

“I mean, there are people in charge.” Jester shrugged. “And really, he just needs to give back all the stuff he took.”

“And why do I need to turn something to gold?”

“To make him want it!”

“Well, I can only do that to a few materials, so we should figure out what our bait will be.”

They decided to use a small wooden figurine - “It’s a Caduceus rod. Get it?” - Caduceus had been whittling in his spare time. They relegated the enthusiastic acting to Jester while they all got lunch. After that, it was only a waiting game. Beau pulled out a pack of cards.

They managed to pull the entire bar into a game of Ord’s Gamble when Caleb suddenly sat up straight. “It’s gone.”

“What, really?”

“Fellow took his sweet time with that.”

“Uh...sorry, guys, but we gotta run.” Beau started picking up cards and giving back bets. Jester had been on a good streak - they’d have money to spend when they got back to Rosohna. As a group, the Mighty Nein raced up the stairs.

Their room was empty, lacking one wooden carving and gaining one open window.

“Quick! Jester!” Nott poked at Jester’s leg. “Use your find-thing-ey spell! He couldn’t have gotten far.”

The spell led them outside into the woods. The Mighty Nein could see the glow of firelight in the distance. Beau jumped into the trees and a few feet further, Nott did the same. As they got closer to a clearing, Caleb dug deep into his pockets and grabbed onto his components.

Instead of finding only one skulking, hunched over figure giggling about their findings in the clearing, (Jester had drawn a very exact image of what she thought the thief would be like) the Mighty Nein saw several villagers wandering around a great bonfire. Some were chatting amiably, some cooking closer to the fire. Music blanketed the area from the other side of the fire and people were dancing all around.

Fjord got the attention of a passing bugbear. “Excuse me, what’s…all this for? Is there a celebration?”

The bugbear scratched his stomach. “I mean…yeah, but not anything big. Just…y’know…end of the day stuff. Kick back and relax, y’know.”

Beau dropped out of the tree, scaring Fjord and Caleb (Caduceus was cool.) “It’s Hupperdook, man.”

“Jester, can you find the person?”

Jester pursed her lips and squinted her eyes, staring at the crowd. “Hmmm…no. I can’t. I’m sorry – it all gets mushed up with the people. They’re definitely here though.”

“Well…what do we do now? If we make everyone empty their pockets, they’ll panic, they’ll probably hate us – ”

“And the thief has time to get away while we’re taking care of other people.”

Fjord sighed, looking away from the group like something would suddenly reveal itself, if he just kept watching the townsfolk. And it did – sort of. He noticed people were moving back chairs and table from the fire. One of the musicians at the back had put away his instrument and was beckoning out to the crowd, letting out a great belting note that sounded…slightly familiar. Something he remembered from sailing on Vandren’s crew.

“We could dance with them.” He said suddenly – ignoring whatever plan the Mighty Nein _had_ been making.

“What?”

Fjord gestured out. “They’re getting ready for a big dance. We go along and we might be able to figure out who stole the wooden carving.”

Jester clapped her hands. “Fjord – that’s genius!” She rushed up beside Fjord, gazing out at all the people joining in.

_Aye... hey ji re! Ude ude mann ude, par lage tere sang jude!~_

Her face fell hearing the foreign words. It wasn’t like what they spoke in Rosohna, and it wasn’t Goblin-speak like they’d been taught by Nott – it was something else. “Oh…Uh…I’m not sure I could do that. I mean, don’t get me wrong – I can do _a lot_ of stuff, but I don’t think I can do that.”

“I can.” Fjord shrugged, only just managing to not shrink back when Jester whirled on him.

“You can?!”

“Yeah. One of the crew taught us it and we used to dance it whenever we had some downtime.”

Caleb blinked, the hint of a smile on his face. “You are full of surprises, Fjord.”

“It looks like there are couples forming.”

Beau stepped up beside Caduceus. “Yeah – and besides, you’re not that good at picking pockets. Who’s gonna do the searching?”

Something else dropped behind Fjord, making him jump for the second time. It was Nott. “I can.”

Fjord, once he caught his breath, turned on Nott. “You can? I mean…do you need me to show you the steps?”

Nott pulled off her jacket and handed it to Caleb. She pulled a string from her pocket and tied her braids together at the back of her shaking head. “We know this dance back in Felderwin. We don’t get a lot of trade, but some Marquesian merchants came by now and then for grain.” Satisfied that she wouldn’t get smacked in the face, Nott turned to Caduceus. “Do you have any powders? Colored powders?”

Caduceus, and Caleb, too, dug in his pockets. They pulled out powders of yellow, red, and light blue. Nott folded them up in a neckerchief from Jester and grabbed Fjord’s hand and pulled him to the fire.

The Mighty Nein remained behind, shell-shocked and more than a little gobsmacked at what was going to happen.

Fjord and Nott rounded the fire, joining the circle of villagers just as it began to move. They bowed to each other, jumping from foot to foot, then changing positions and doing it again.

The circle moved again and them with it. Around and around the fire they danced, clapping in time with the music like they were the drum keeping the beat going, a great cacophony of sound with every echo. Slowly, the circle split into two – the ladies inside and the men spread about the outside.

_The fire is roaring, and the body has gone mad._

Fjord and the men led the dance, gliding around the ladies and singing loudly into the night. They jumped and spun in the air and more than a few fell to the ground trying to show off. The ladies didn’t seem to mind – some even started laughing in good humor.

Fjord didn’t fall though. He did a few extra jump kicks and smirked at Nott. Nott rolled her eyes, but she didn’t look away. The smile on her face didn’t fall either.

The circles met back up. Nott stood beside Fjord, smiling up at him singing along. They swung their arms back and forth and jumped from side to side. Gliding towards and away from the fire with the music. The flames made Nott’s yellow dress glow – she looked like a firefly dancing with the music. A light in the darkness.

_From lips to lips, from these lips to lips, my mouth has tasted blood…_

Fjord stretched out his arm, turning round and round over his partner. He was so focused on Nott, he didn’t notice when a splash of yellow powder hit him in the face when they stopped.

He stood there, shell-shocked as Nott let out a raucous laugh. In her little hand, Caduceus’s powder slowly seeped out. The circle started to turn and Nott happily made her escape. Fjord bit down on his lip, but couldn’t stop smiling. _Two could play at that game_. Luckily, everybody was throwing colored powders at each other at this point – it would only make sense for them to blend in.

If he only targeted her, nobody would notice.

Nott encircled a man, clapping to let the powder in her hand spray around them. Fjord smiled softly at a bugbear not far away. They danced along, but Fjord kept catching Nott’s eye when they passed. Nott was still smiling, mischievous but having so, so much fun.

She deserved it, Fjord thought. She’d been through so much. She deserved to just have fun.

The bugbear and the drow man exchanged partners and Fjord and Nott were reunited. They clapped and turned with the music and by the end of the song, Nott had ended up with pink coral dust splattered into her hair. The crowd applauded greatly, yelling out all sorts of encouragements as the musicians took a bow. With each clap, more and more people were sprayed with powder, which only made them laugh harder.

Fjord and Nott, shaking out the powder from their clothes and hair. They were covered in pinks, yellows, and blues. Somebody in the crowd had green that made Caleb blush when he saw it – he thought Nott’s dress had torn in a very inopportune place when she approached.

“Well…that seemed fun.”

Jester hugged Nott close. “You never told me you could dance!”

Nott shrugged, wiping her hands on her dress. “We never…we never really…joined in. Me and Yeza would do it at home. Nobody really invited us out to parties.”

Jester squeezed Nott even harder. “You have to teach us later, okay? You and Fjord, both.”

Nott looked at Fjord and Fjord looked back. Some green must’ve gotten on her face, because her cheeks looked a little darker in the firelight.

“Did you find who took the carving?”

Nott shook out her shoulders, that mischievous smile coming back full force. “Oh yeah.”

The magistrate of the town wasn’t at the celebration, but rather sleeping in bed. (“We have a habit of waking up town officials, don’t we?” Beau mentioned.) When she opened the door, the last thing she was expecting was to see two (three?) humans, a goblin, a half-orc, a tiefling, and a firbolg holding a rather disgruntled and slightly struggling drow.

“Can I…you know what, no. I am not awake for this. Come in. You two – just step through the door. I don’t want…whatever you’re covered in on my clean furniture. I’m getting some coffee.” The Mighty Nein abided by the magistrate’s request, Fjord and Nott walking in last and just far enough in to close the door behind them. They all watched the Magistrate disappear down the hall.

A while and sounds of pans moving when pans weren’t supposed to later, the Magistrate returned with a cup of coffee and looking much more presentable than she had in her dressing gown. Her hair was tidied away in a quick plait and she had on a sensible brown dress. “Now, may I ask what you have disturbed my evening for?”

“We understand that your town has been struggling with a few robberies lately.” Beau began, in that cool way she did as a member of the Cobalt Soul.

The Magistrate rolled her eyes. “Ugh, this headache again. Yes – and it is quite annoying. Three weeks ago, an automated toy my father made when he was young was stolen in the middle of the night. Can you believe it – who steals a toy?!”

Beau’s smile couldn’t have turned more devilish if she tried. In the corner of her eye, she saw the drow next to her (because they had placed him between her and Yasha for a reason) stiffen. “Who, indeed?” Beau clamped down a hand on the drow’s shoulder, feeling him shudder under it and feeling satisfied in the sound it made. “Well, may I present to you – your thief.”

The eyes of the Magistrate flickered between the Mighty Nein and the drow and back again, changing members but always coming back to the drow. “Imica? Is this true?”

“Of course it isn’t, Madam Nykurr. These people just show up and blame the first person they see.” He tried to lean forward, but Beau’s grip on him hadn’t eased. “Are you really going to believe their word over someone who’s worked in this town for years? Who you’ve known for so long?”

“We found this, in his pocket.” Caduceus set down his wooden carving on the table, carried in a piece of cloth to keep the light blue dust covering it intact. “This is personal keepsake of mine that we had spoken of only earlier today.”

Caleb cleared his throat. “If I may, Madam Magistrate – ”

“Nykurr. And Imica does make a good point. Humans traveling through the country is very unusual, and it’s even more so when they enter a town to make an arrest. What brings you here?”

Caleb looked about and together, they all pulled out their pendants of the Bright Queen. “We were told, Madam Nykurr, that there was some unrest and, Her Majesty wanted us to get to the bottom of it. As my friend has said, we believe we have. If I may ask, Madam Nykurr, your people celebrate at the end of the day with song and dance, yes?” Caleb waited for acknowledgment, only continuing when Nykurr confirmed. “As you can see, our companions joined in.” He gestured to Fjord and Nott, still unmoved from the doorway. “They danced in a song where everyone is encouraged to throw colored powders at each other. Do you know what colors are usually used?”

Nykurr squinted her eyes. The Mighty Nein could see the pieces were already starting to come together in her head, however slowly. “Well, they’re usually flours that we color with grains left over. Greens, dark blues, maybe some gold and purples.”

“But this blue – this light blue – this wouldn’t have come from your townspeople, would it?” Nykurr shook her head, no. Imica was even tenser now than before, making Yasha’s sudden yanking of him upwards slightly more painful than she meant it (probably.) There, at his pocket, was the light blue powdery print of a tiny hand.

Imica whirled around. At the door, Nott smiled with all her teeth and waved her stained blue hand. Fjord chuckled, squeezing Nott’s shoulder into his side.

The next day, they decided to travel back rather than teleport into Rosohna. They certainly hadn’t expected to uncover the mystery as soon as they did. Jester suggested it could be a little vacation – traveling without a time limit “for once.”

That night, when they started camping, Jester started poking at Nott. “Teach me the dance. Please? Please? Pleasepleaseplease – ”

“Ok, ok.” Nott rolled her eyes. “Ok, uhm…well, we need a lot of people for it.”

“Me!” Jester raised her hand.

Beau shrugged, untying her staff from her back. “Sure, I’ll join.” Yasha shrugged as well and followed Beau. Caleb took off his coat and unstrapped his books. As he was standing up, he held out a hand to Caduceus.

“Oh, oh no. Dancing’s not for me. My legs get worn down very easily.” Caduceus pulled out his kettle from his pack, turning it over and laying a piece of cloth across it. “I’ll provide the music, though.”

Nott nodded along. “Ok. Well, uh…I only know the girl parts.”

Fjord, with his armor taken off and his cloak placed aside, strode up to join them. “I’ll take care of Caleb. And…” He kept switching his fingers between Beau and Yasha.

Yasha reached out a hand to Beau. “I’ll be your guy, Beau.”

Everybody completely ignored how red that made Beau.

Caduceus made dinner for everyone as Nott walked Jester and Beau through the steps. Turning and disorient clapping as they found the timing. Fjord floundered between worry and trying not to laugh as Yasha and Caleb fumbled through turning in a circle. Jester rushed over, steadying him as he spun himself dizzy. She smiled at him, keeping his eyes on her as she circled around him. She twisted and clapped like she was supposed to, inching just ever slowly to the left. Caleb followed her. It wasn’t that hard, if he was staring at Jester.

Fjord rushed to stop Yasha as she kicked up and spun, just barely managing to not land the wrong way on her feet. “I think we’ll…hold off on the spins. Some of the guys back there couldn’t do it either. Just… just go with the music. It’s all about having fun.” Yasha nodded. She still tried once more, though. Landing flat on her chest, the air rushed out of her.

Beau leaned down to help her up. “When we get back to Rosohna, I’ll show you how to do some sick roundhouse kicks.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. And maybe you can, I don’t know, use it with your sword, or something.”

“That would look really scary. I like it.”

“Oh! I almost forgot!” Jester stopped dancing, reaching into her pockets. “I returned the statue to the store clerk and I asked him for a few bags of that powder they were using. I got colors for everyone!” Jester ran about, handing over little bags filled with colored powder.

At first, Fjord grimaced at the memory of getting the yellow out of his armor last night. But one look over at Nott, biting back a smile, and Fjord didn’t mind so much.

_It flies! It flies! The heart flies! These wings, they seem to have joined with you._

They gathered in a circle around the, now much smaller, fire and stared out at each other. Jester couldn’t stop giggling, fidgeting with all the energy inside of her. Caduceus waved his hand and they could all hear the music from the other night playing from an unknown, magical source. With one strong hit of his kettle-turned-drum, the dance began.

Caleb, Beau, and Yasha were clumsy getting started. Jester, in her enthusiasm, stepped the wrong way. A little bit of pink powder smacked itself into Caleb and she giggled a little more. Caleb glared at her without any of the actual malice. Jester squeaked when a flash of red struck across her nose. This, Jester’s smile said, was war.

Beau turned and turned around Yasha, hopping from foot to foot. Without looking up, her topknot just missed hitting Yasha coming up. They fumbled back to equilibrium, apologies spilling out and over each other. They exchanged spots, clapping with the music as the three couples turned. Yasha stumbled over Beau, who caught her and righted her with a small laugh. Dancing wasn’t much of either of their thing, but that wouldn’t stop them tonight.

Caduceus played along as the drummer, keeping his Thaumaturgy spell going for the music. He relaxed against a tree, enjoying the moment.

Oblivious to Caleb and Jester’s color war, or Beau and Yasha’s clumsy steps, were Nott and Fjord. Flying through the dance, staring at each other. The music surrounded them, locking them in their own world.

_In the past I use to flow freely, I kept roaming_

_Taking my love with me, who knows when I left_

The night grew darker, the clearing becoming colorful with powders being thrown. But Fjord and Nott danced circles around each other, to music that maybe none of their friends could hear. Music all their own.

_From lips to lips, from these lips to lips, my mouth has tasted blood…_


End file.
